Can you see the man directly in front of the airplane with something in his hand. This is a bar which hooks to the airplane and to the deck holding the plane securely at the beginning of the cat.. You can see the slots for the 0009913
0009913ALT="F-14A Tomcat 1/72 Model Airplane Kit photo" HSPACE=10 VSPACE=10 BORDER=2 height=156 width=250 align=RIGHT>catapult in the white area on the deck. I sure hope that I have this right! In the middle of this bar is a torque link that is made to break when and only when the catapult and the aircraft thrust together are within the designed parameters. This is to eliminate the infamous, "Cold Cat Shot," where the catapult doesn't have enough power to get the airplane into the air. If the metal torque link doesn't break the pilot and plane are saved.

If anyone has a photo and comments about this torque link, please send me e-mail at the bottom of this page. If your info is well done we can put it on a new page.